The Single European Sky launched by the European Commission was drafted with the following objectives:
- to restructure European airspace as a function of air traffic flows, rather than according to national borders;
- to create additional capacity; and
- to increase the overall efficiency of the traffic management system.
The European Commission’s ATM legislative package of four regulations covers the essential regulatory elements to be developed in order to achieve a seamless European Air Traffic Management System. They are:
1. A Framework for the Creation of the Single Sky.
2. The Provision of Air Navigation Services.
3. The Organization and Use of Airspace.
4. The Interoperability of the European Air Traffic Management Network.
EUROCONTROL has considerable expertise and experience which will be applied to help make the Single European Sky become reality.
Exercise 1.2.2 Answer the questions.
1. What is EUROCONTROL?
2. How many Member States are there in EUROCONTROL?
3. What is its primary objective?
4. What does EUROCONTROL do for implementation of pan-European air traffic management strategies?
5. What are EUROCONTROL’s core activities?
6. When was EUROCONTROL created?
7. What was the purpose of creating a single sky?
8. What about the growth of traffic?
9. What is the Single European Sky initiative?
10. Why did Europe eliminate frontiers on the ground with the 1985 single European market?
11. Does Europe’s air traffic management system remain safe?
12. What approach does the Single European Sky initiative put forward?
13. What is Unified Air Traffic Management?
14. What are the four regulations of the European Commission’s ATM legislative package?
Exercise 1.2.3 What do the following abbreviations stand for.